2011:566 - OLD QUAY/QUAY STREET, BURGAGERY-LANDS WEST, CLONMEL, Tipperary

A licence was sought to undertake excavation at the site of the Old Quay pump station, which forms part of the Suir River (Clonmel North and East) Drainage Scheme—Civil Works Contract. The pump station is located to the south of the town defences, in a car park to the south of Blue Anchor Lane, within the zone of archaeological potential for Clonmel town (TS083-019).

A previous slit-trench excavated in this area to locate services indicated post-medieval/19th-century walls and cellars at a depth of 2m below present ground level. Given the location of the pump station, between the town defences and the River Suir, it was thought possible that archaeological deposits might be revealed below the level of the 19th-century cellars.

The excavation at Old Quay has identified relatively sterile riverine gravels and silts at the lower levels, and the remains of foundation or cellar walls at the upper levels. Analysis of the first-edition OS mapping shows buildings in the location of the pump station between Old Quay and Quay Street, and it is clear that the recorded structural remains are directly associated with the building identified on the map.

Slater’s Directory (1846) lists the occupiers of premises in Old Quay as boat-owners and merchants, and it is probable that the boat-owners would have been the owners of barges carrying bulk goods such as coal, corn and salt on the River Suir navigation to and from Waterford. This suggests that the buildings on Old Quay were warehouses. Analysis of the larger-scale OS map from 1841 marks the buildings on Old Quay as a cotton factory. It is interesting that no cotton factory was listed in Slater’s Directory for 1846. It is possible, therefore, that the building was originally constructed as a cotton factory but that there was a change in use from a factory to warehouses about this time. This change in function may relate to the alterations in the internal walls identified during the excavation.

The lower levels, beneath the wall foundations, consisted of riverine silts and natural gravels. The upper levels of silt contained some animal bone, likely to be associated with dumped material from the town, but no artefacts were recovered. The quantity of animal bone recovered quickly diminished with depth and the deposits were largely sterile. The lower-level gravels are interpreted as being natural deposits.

Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd, 120b Greenpark Road, Bray, Co. Wicklow